Nick Bockwinkel

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Nick Bockwinkel
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Nick Bockwinkel The Sensational White Phantom Dick Warren
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight	241 lbs (110 kg)
Born	December 6, 1934 St. Paul, Minnesota
Billed from	Beverly Hills, California
Trained by	Warren Bockwinkel Lou Thesz
Debut	Mid 1955
Retired	1987

Nick Bockwinkel (born December 6, 1934) is a former American professional wrestler, mainly competing in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the United States. He held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship 6 times.

Contents 1 Wrestling career 2 Post wrestling career 3 In wrestling 4 Championships and accomplishments 5 Trivia 6 Notes and references

[edit] Wrestling career

Bockwinkel began his career in 1955, after a knee injury forced the University of Oklahoma to withdraw his football scholarship. After training to become a wrestler by his father Warren, a regional star in the 1940's, and the great Lou Thesz, Nick spent the early years of his career teaming with his father. However, it would be many years before Nick achieved true success in wrestling. He captured his first major Title in 1970, at the age of 36, defeating Assassin #1 for the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship. Bockwinkel soon found his way to the AWA, where he formed one of the most successful tandems in wrestling history with Ray Stevens, and manager, Bobby Heenan. Together, they captured the AWA World Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions, the first coming in 1972.

By 1975, Bockwinkel had become one of the biggest stars in the AWA, and captured his first of many AWA World Heavyweight Championships, at the age of 40, ending Verne Gagne's seven year reign. Unlike most wrestlers, who peak in their early thirties, Bockwinkel reached his peak, both professionally and in ability, well into his forties. As AWA Champion, Bockwinkel had notable feuds with the likes of Billy Robinson, Dick the Bruiser, The Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, Jerry Lawler, and most famously, Verne Gagne and Hulk Hogan. He last held the Title in 1987, at the age of 52, dropping the championship to another second generation wrestler, Curt Hennig. Bockwinkel retired in 1987, ending a career that spanned four decades. .

Bockwinkel returned to the ring in 1993 at "Slamboree: A Legend's Reunion". The card was promoted by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), but featured veteran wrestlers from all over the country. Bockwinkel wrestled former NWA World Champion Dory Funk, Jr. to a time limit draw as part of the undercard.

Bockwinkel was considered by his peers and many industry experts to be an excellent wrestler, known for his exceptional technical ability and ring psychology. He was also known for his calm, articulate promos, which distinguished him from many of his contemporaries. Larry Zbyszko once commented, "If you asked Bockwinkel for the time, he'd tell you how to build a watch".

[edit] Post wrestling career

Bockwinkel worked as a road agent for the World Wrestling Federation in the late 80's. In 1994, Bockwinkel became the on-screen commissioner of World Championship Wrestling. He lost his job in 1995 after an incident at the Great American Bash in which he forgot the name of the event in the middle of a promo.

In 2000, he and Yoshiaki Fujiwara were the commissioners for a short-lived shoot style promotion, the Japan Pro Wrestling Association, but as the shoot-style market in Japan had been low since the collapse of UWF International, the wrestlers on it moved to other promotions. Bockwinkel is currently the Vice-President of the Cauliflower Alley club, as well as the onscreen General Manager for AWA Superstars.

On the March 5, 2007 episode of RAW it was announced that Nick Bockwinkel will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2007.^[1]

[edit] In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• Piledriver
• Cobra clutch
• Figure four leglock
• Indian deathlock
• Dropkick

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Calgary version)(1 time)
• AWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Ray Stevens

• National Wrestling Alliance
• National

• NWA International Television Championship (2 time)
• NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (1 time)

• Regional

• NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ray Stevens
• NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA Georgia Television Championship (3 times)
• NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bobby Shane
• NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (3 time) - with Nick Kozak (2) and Buddy Mareno (1)
• NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (2 time) - with Ramon Torres
• NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Ricky Romero

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame

• (Class of 2003)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Tag Team of the Year (1973) (with Ray Stevens)
• PWI ranked him#18 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)

• WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Édouard Carpentier (1) and Lord James Blears (1)

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

[edit] Trivia

• In 1968, Bockwinkel appeared as a contestant on a prime-time version of the NBC game show Hollywood Squares.
• Bockwinkel has the distinction of being involved in the first ever AWA vs World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Title Unification match, wrestling WWWF Champion, Bob Backlund, to a double count-out, on March 25, 1979.
• Bockwinkel wrestled NWA champion Ric Flair for the NWA title at the last AWA show in Winnipeg, MB on January 16, 1986 at Winnipeg Arena before the AWA territory lost Winnipeg to the WWF. Bockwinkel was not the AWA champion at this time.

[edit] Notes and references

• Dave Meltzer & John F. Molinaro (2002). Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of all Time. Winding Stair Press. ISBN 1-55366-305-5.